Lateral drill mechanism



April 23, 1940- J. 0. ROGERS ET AL .198.01

' LATERAL DRILL MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 1a, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1April 1940- J. c. ROGERS Er AL r ,1 8,

LATERAL DRILL MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 18. 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2MGR-0 ens Patented Apr-.23, 1040 PAT NT] om n I emit Ls'raasr. mun.moasyrsu .I 0. ram sum James D.

mes Hall. I a ian.

Application August 18, 1938, Serial No. 225,640

' lenewed september 28, 1939 6 claims. (Cl. 255-1) This inventionrelates to improvements in drill,-

. ing devices or machines designed for use p marily in connection withthe sinking of oil wells.

In well drilling, the situation is frequently encountered where the oilproducing formation is of such a character that it seriously retards theflow of oil from the earth surrounding a drill hole, into the hole andthus the productionwf the well is seriously interfered with. The gen goaway with the use of acids, which procedureis costly and is alsoattended by danger from the handling of the acids which must beintroduced into the well hole.

- The present invention has for its principal obiect to provide animproved form of drill which is designed, after being inserted into thelower end of the well hole, to drill or bore laterally from the wellhole into the surrounding formation and further, is of such a characterthat these drillings may be made inany direction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lateral drill of novelconstruction wherein the cuttings are carried up through the center ofthe drill and a pipe employed as a means for tuming the drill which isof a flexible character and adapted to be guided in the desireddirection through a rigid guide tube.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a lateral drillhaving a flexible drill carry- 0 ing portion with novel means associatedwith the flexible drill carrying portion for stiflening such portionsufficiently to permit application 'oflongitudinal force thereto withoutcausing the flexible portion to buckle, while at the same time allowingsuiilcient bending of the flexible portion topermit it tobe guidedaround abendinaguide tube.

- The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed dlcription taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding,however, that the invention is not to be'conflned to any strictconformity with the showing of the drawings butmay be changed g.ormodifled so long as such changes or modiflca 'forma'tion whichisindicated by the numeral tions mark no material departure from. thesalient features ofthe invention as expressed the appended claims.

In the drawings: I Y Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the deviceembodying the present invention showing the same in working position. II

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view throllah 'flle 'Fig. 3 is asectionon the line3-3 of Fig. 21'

Hg. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 'ofl 'ig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section onthe'line 3-! of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a view in detail of a portion of theflexible conduit, a part of the same being in longitudinal section. jl

7 is a plan view of a washer. I i i Referring now more particularly tothe'drawings, the numeral I generally designates a well hole drilled inthe earth into an, oil producing which well hole I is sheathed orreinforced by the usual well casing I which extends substantially to theupper part of the oil producing formation 2.

- The lateral drill embodying the present inu vention is indicatedgenerally by-the numeral 4 and is inserted through the well casing 3into the lower part of the hole into the area sur-. rounded by theformation 2, and this drill comprises a tube 5 having at its lower endthe right 39 angular bend or neck 6, the end of which is spaced adistance from the remote side of the tube of which it forms a part, notgreater than the inside diameter of the casing 3. Thus it will be seenthat the tube 5 may be extended longla tudinally downwardly through thecasing and that the open lower end of the laterally turned portion willbe directed toward and perpendicular to the wall of the lower part ofthe hole I when the tube has been lowered to the desired 0 I extent.

Formed integrally with the convex face of the laterally curved portion 6of the tube is a downwardly opening sleeve 1 which is interiorlythreaded to have threaded connection with the 5 upper end of a foot post8 which is designed to rest upon the bottom of the hole so as to supportthe end of the portion 6 at the desired elevation therein. This post 8may be removed to have substituted for it a post of greater or lesser gotension therethrough of the drill driving pipe H. The collar 9 isprovided with apertures I! which permit the forcing of oil downwardlythrough the I in overlapping joined relation, as indicated at l5,whereby flexing of the tube It is permitted while at the same time thecontinuous wall formation is maintained so that a fluid or othersubstance may be passed through the flexible conduit or tube without anymaterial portion of it escaping from the same between the convolutions.The central tubular portion ll of the conduit is encased in a woven wiresheath I. The sheath and conduit are joined at one end to the pipe I Ias previously stated, and the other end thereof is connected with adrill head I! which is of an overall diameter greater than the outsidediameter of the conduit Ill and has the central passageway I. whichcommunicates with the divergently related outer end passages ll, and agroup of outside passages 2| which extend therethrough parallel to theaxial center for the e of fluid as hereinafter described. The drill headI1 is provided with suitable blades 2| and the several passages I! andopen between these blades so that as the drill is forced into the earth,there will be no obstruction of the passages and fluid will be permittedto flow freely through the same.

The rear of the drill I1 is circumferentially recessed as indicated at22, to receive a stabilizing ring 23 which forms one end of a group ofsimilar rings 24 which encircle the flexible conduit ll between thedrill l1 and the opposite end of the conduit. These stabilizing rings 23and it are provided with the annular series of apertures 25 and theapertures of the rings are alined to form continuous passages from oneend of the flexible conduit to the other, the ends of such es at thedrill head end of the conduit communicating with the passages 2|. Inorder that the passages may not be interrupted by rotation of the rings,one face of each ring may have an annular groove 24' connectins theapertures as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The possible interruption of thepassages may also be avoided by making the apertures 25 closer togetherso that any turning of the rings would still keep some of the aperturesin communication with those of adjacent rings.

At the end of the series of stabilizing rings adjacent the lower end ofthe pipe ii, there are placed one or more washers 28 which support anend of an expansion spring 21 which surrounds the lower end of the pipeII, as shown. At the upper end of this spring an anti-friction unit 28encircles the pipe and bears against the adjacent end of the spring andthis unit is maintained firmly compressed against the adjacent end ofthe spring by the adjusting nuts 29 which are connected with the pipe IIby the screw threads 30. Sufficient clearance is permitted between thetube 4 and the nuts and between the bearing unit 28 and,the tube topermit fluid to pass downwardly through the area occupied by the nuts,the anti-friction or bearing unit and the spring 2'! to the upper end ofthe series stabilizing rings 24.

In the operation of the drill, the tube is set at the proper heightwithin the well hole by coupling with the collar I a foot post 8 of theproper length to position the laterally turned end 6 of the tube at theheight desired in the hole and in relation to the oil producingformation. The pipe II will be so positioned in the tube 4 that theadjusting nuts 28 will be in the upper end of the latter tube and thenose or point of the drill i! will be just inside the open end of thelower portion 82. The drill may then be extended into the oil bearingformation by forcing the pipe H downwardly while at the same timerotating it to produce the desired drilling action of the head II.Simultaneously with this operation oil is forced down through the wellcasing I and thiswill work its way in through the lateral bore ll formedby the drill to the inner end of this bore and at the same time some ofthe oil will pass through the openings l2 and by way of the apertures 2!in the stabilizing rings to and through the passages 20 of the drillhead and the oil reaching the drill head along these two paths willreturn through'the pusages It and I! and the center of the flexibleconduit It to the surface carrying with it the cuttings produced by thedrill.

From the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that the stabilizingrings serve the two-fold purpose of preventing any tendency of theflexible conduit to buckle and at the same time permitting it to be bentto pass through the curved lower end portion 8 of the drill tube 4 andthey also provide, by reason of the apertures 2| therein, a means forconducting cuttings removing fluid to the drill head. l'l so that acontinuous flow of fluid around the drill head can be maintained. Bythis action, the cuttings will be constantly removed and the drillingoperation of the device will be of maximum efliciency.

The extent to which the lateral passages Il may be cut into the oilproducing formation is limited only by the length of the flexibleportion of the drilling unit and thus it will be seen that by employinga sufficiently long casing tube for the drilling unit, a flexibleconduit of any desired length may be made use of.

After one lateral bore II has been formed, the drill can be withdrawn,the tube rotated on the foot I and a new bore formed by again extendingthe drill, and this procedure can be repeated any desired number oftimes so that the oil bearing formation can be fllled with perforationsor bores extending radially from the main hole of the well. It will thusbe seen that the advantages of this tool over the use of explosives toopen the oil-formation are that the maximum of space may be obtained inthe lower part of the well as all of the material cut away is removedwhereas in the use of explosives, such material is only broken up butremains in the well hole or the costly job of cleaning out the holeafter using the explosive must be carried out whereas with the presenttool. the cleaning out of the hole is simultaneous with the formation ofthe lateral bores.

What is claimed is:

l. A drilling mechanism for wells, comprising of said pipe and formingan unbroken fluid passageway communicating with the pipe, a drill headsecured to the other end of the flexible conduit and rotatabletherewith, said drill head having axially extending openingstherethrough certain of which are in communication with the conduit, andmeans forming fluid passageways extending longitudinally of the flexibleconduit and communicating at one end with the well hole and havingcommunication at the other ends with the other fluid passages of thedrill head. 2. A drilling mechanism for wells, comprising a tubular bodyadapted to be inserted into the lower end of a well hole and having alaterally {5 turned lower end, a' rigid pipe extending downwardly intothe upper end of said body, a flexible conduit connected at one end withthe lower end of said pipe and forming an unbroken fluid passagewaycommunicating with the pipe, a drill 20 head secured to the other end ofthe flexible conduit and rotatable therewith, said drill head havingaxially extending openings therethrough' certain of which are incommunication with the conduit, and a plurality of concentrically ar- 25ranged annular members encircling the flexible conduit and forming acasing thereabout, the annular members at one end of theg'roup abuttingsaid drill head, means at the other end of the group oi annular membersfor maintaining 30 the members in yieldable contacting relation, andmeans for passing fluid from within the drill hole through the otherpassages of the drill head.

3. A drill mechanism of the character 'described, comprising a tubedesigned to be dis- 85 posed vertically in a well hole and having itslower end open and turned laterally to be directed toward the wall ofthe hole, a pipe having one end extending into and longitudinally of theupper end of the tube, an armored conduit formed 0 of continuous joinedconvolutions of material and secured at one end to the lower end of saidpipe to form a tubular continuation thereof, a drill head secured to theother end of said conduit and having a central passage communicat- 5 ingwith the interior of the conduit and axially extending passages outsidethe diameter or the conduit, and means for conducting fluidlongitudinally along the conduit to and through the last-mentionedpassages of said drill head for return through the first-mentionedpassage and through the conduit and pipe connected therewith.

4. A drill mechanism of thecharacter 'described, comprising fa tubedesigned to be disposed vertically in a well hole and having its lowerend open and turned laterally to be directed toward the wall of thehole, a pipe having one end extending into and longitudinally of theupper end of the tube, an armored conduit formed a of continuous joinedconvolutions of material and secured at one end to the lower end of saidpipe to form a tubular continuation thereof, a drill head secured to theother end 01' said con duit and having a central passage communicatingwith the interior oi the conduit and axially extending passages outsidethe diameter of the conduit, a series or annular members encircling saidconduit betweensaid drill head and the lower end or said pipe, saidannular members being provided with axially extending apertures, theapertures 01' the annular members being aiined to form fluid passagescommunicating at the lower end of the series with the last-mentionedpassages of said head, means for compressing the series of annularmembers to maintain the members in firmly contacting relation,

' one end extending into and longitudinally of the upper end of thetube, an armored conduit formed of continuous joined convolutions ofmaterial and secured at one end to the lower end of said pipe to form atubular continuation thereof, a drill head secured to the other end ofsaid conduit-and having a central passage communicating with theinterior of the conduit and axially extending passagesoutside thediameter of the conduit, a series of annular members encircling theflexible conduit and having a diameter substantially the same as theinterior diameter of said tube through which the members are moved withthe flexible conduit, said series of members bearing at one end againstsaid drill head and having apertures therethrough which are arranged toform continuous passages extending longitudinally of the flexibleconduit for communication at their lower ends with the secondmentionedpassages of the drill head, said tube at 1 its upper end being formed toadmit fluid from the well hole, resflient means in the tube inencircling relation with the pipe and flexible condgit, and securingmeans for said resilient means whereby the latter means constantlymaintains longitudinal pressure against the serie of annular members.

6. A drill mechanism of the character described, comprising a' tubedesigned to be disposed vertically in a well hole and having its lowerend open and turned laterally to be directed toward the wall of thehole, a pipe having one end extending into and longitudinally of theupper end of the tube,- an armored conduit formed 01' continuous joinedconvolutions of material and secured at one end to the lower end 01 saidpipe to form a tubular continuation thereof, a drill head secured to theother end of said conduit and having a central passage communicatingwith the interior of the conduit and axially extending passages outside01' the diameter of the conduit, a series of annular members encirclingthe flexible conduit and having a diameter substantially the same as theinterior diameter of said tube through which the mem- 66 bers are movedwith the flexible conduit, said series of members bearing at one endagainst said drill head and having apertures therethrough which arearranged to form continuous passages extending longitudinally of theflexible conduit anti-friction bearing between said last means 10'" andthe upper end of the spring.

JAMES c. Rooms. JAMES D.HALL, JR.

